For anyone out there who was expecting the exact same marketing scheme, feel free to pat yourself on the back. If the initial teaser trailer wasn’t enough Deja Vu for you, the blogs at Sega.com have announced Concept Art Friday, where every week we get to experience another piece of imagery from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 with no context whatsoever. Hopefully we won’t be forced to answer generic questions to get palmtrees this time around…either way, what has Sega decided to use to kick off the next wave of Sonic hype?

If it hasn’t clicked yet from the black and white lineart just what that is supposed to look like, then the full color version might be enough to jog your memory…

Yes indeed, we are treated to a relic from a long forgotten age: the spinning wheel things from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. You know, those blue quarter-cirlcles you spindash next to to cause the landscape to change around you in Marble Garden Zone…yeah, who knows if they ever had a real name. Either way, they seem to be making their grand return to Sonic. But that’s not all! Knowing throwing out just one image of something we’ve already seen 18 years ago might not be that exciting, Sega has gone ahead and extended their promotion to their official Facebook page, where they will have additional, exclusive concept art. What do we get to see? Why, the first known badnik in the game. And…wait, what?

That’s…that’s something new! Sure, it does have some similarities to Yadrin from the first Sonic the Hedgehog, but for the first time, we have no idea what to call the little guy. And since he has spikes on his top, that implies that maybe, just maybe, you’ll be forced to roll through him if you want to free whatever is inside, instead of just slamming that homing attack. Crazy ideas are afoot, Sega!

To round out your Sonic 4 moment of the day, Archie Comics has revealed the cover to their Sonic Super Special Magazine #3, which is meant to contain an adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. Though it’ll be a few months before we get to read it, the cover has been revealed, with quite the interesting upper bar…

Yes, your first glimpse at a screenshot of Sonic 4: Episode 2. Since it’s only a sliver of visual information, we don’t know much aside from the fact that it’ll be a ruins level, though a couple people have already commented that it resembles the pillars from Aquatic Ruin Zone. Either way, we are promised to see something beyond what we saw inEpisode 1. Let the speculation commence!

If you ask me (which you probably shouldn’t) I’m guessing this ‘original’ level design will be a mix of marble garden and aquatic ruin, there will definitely be water, it’d be kinda dumb to have a hermit crab badnik if there was no water. Then again, it’s not saying there gonna do a straight rehash of marble garden, they may just be using a mechanic from the level because let’s face it, although marble garden isn’t the most popular level in the classic series, the whole changing the landscape idea was pretty bad ass.

Speak for yourself. You can’t speak for everyone. I like the spin tops, which made a return in Generations’ Sky Sanctuary, and I had fun bouncing on top of the blue spin-wheels that open up paths or make platforms.

A new badnik?! Wait….why does have a pokeball for a head? And it looks like I gonna hate a zone in Episode 2, thanks to my hatred of Aquatic Ruin. Well at least it’s new. And I’m really missing a lot in the Comic Universe.